Softball Preview: Northwestern game postponed, St. Thomas still scheduled

University of Northwestern: Live Stats | Live Video  St. Thomas: Live Stats | Live Video  | TV 13 Story

THIS WEEK'S GAMES: The Blue Devils (8-6, 0-0 WIAC) were to begin their northern schedule with three doubleheaders this week, all on the road. But inclement weather has forced the postponement of Stout's trip  St. Olaf College (5-4, 0-0 MIAC), Thursday, March 31,  and the game at the University of Northwestern (4-12, 0-0 UMAC), Saturday, April 2. The St. Olaf game has been rescheduled to Thursday, April 7 at 3:30 p.m. The Northwestern game has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 6 at 4:30 p.m. The Blue Devils are scheduled to be at the University of St. Thomas (11-3, 0-0 MIAC), Sunday, April 3. Both Northwestern and St. Thomas play their games on an artificial surface.

UW-STOUT: The Blue Devils are under new leadership this year as Becky Iaccino takes over as head coach. The Blue Devils return ace pitcher Tori Workman, as well as her entire supporting cast of pitchers - Beth Wood, McKayla Brunner and Abbey Ball. Workman, who recently set the school record for career strikeouts for a pitcher, has a 3-3 overall record, but recorded a couple of hard luck losses during the team's spring break trip to the Myrtle Beach, S. C. area.  Workman has an overall ERA of 1.18 with 36 striketouts in 47.1 innings pitched. Wood has a 3-2 overall record and a 3.60 ERA over 23.1 innings pitched. Brunner, who was able to pitch only one game last year, has a 2-1 record and appeared in five games, has 16 striketouts over 16.1 innings pitched. Catcher/outfielder Rachel Thomas has the team's top batting average, posting a .444 (20-45). Thomas has also stolen five bases in six attempts. Wood's bat has really come alive in the early part of the season, posting a .442 average (19-43) and lead the team in RBI with 12. Freshman Alicia Meyer has made the most of her plate appearances with a .421 average (8-19) and has nine RBI, including the team's only two home runs. The Blue Devils have 10 players posting batting averages higher than .300. | 2016 Statistics

BLUE DEVILS LAST TIME OUT: Stout went 8-4 in Myrtle Beach, rebounding from a first game loss, 5-inning loss. Along the way, the Blue Devils pounded out a school-record  25 runs in a 25-0 run over of Southern Vermont. They also posted a 12-0 win over Morrisville State and finished the 12-game classic style tournament with four shutouts. Stout got one-run wins over Albright College and Rutgers-Camden, but also had one run losses to Albright and Eureka College. First year coach Becky Iaccino was able to use all four pitchers throughout the week and played all team members in the field as she worked to establish a more consistent line-up. | Game Story and Stats

WIAC PRESEASON POLL: The Blue Devils were selected to finish fifth, accoring to a WIAC preseason poll. UW-Whitewater was picked first, followed by UW-Oshkosh, UW-Eau Claire and UW-La Crosse. UW-River Falls, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville were chosen sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

RECORD BEATER: When UW-Stout collected 25 runs in a 25-0 win over Southern Vermont University, March 15, it established a school record for most runs scored in a single game. The Blue Devils scored 11 runs in the first inning alone. Stout finished the game with 13 hits, but only three hits were extra base hits, with a double by Alicia Meyer and triples by Sara Griesbach and Kelly Austin. Stout drew nine walks in the contest and twice Blue Devil batters were hit by a pitch. The previous record was 20 runs scored against Wisconsin Lutheran in 2000. Austin is thought to have tied a school record when she scored four runs against Southern Vermont.

WORKMAN WORKING THE Ks: Pitcher Tori Workman holds the school record for most strikeouts in a single season (160) and recently set the school record for most career strikeouts, surpassing Karen Lien's 409 strikeouts. Lien, a Blue Devil Hall of Fame member, pitched from 1992-95. Workman currently has 433 career strikeouts and moved up to seventh on the WIAC career strikeout list, moving past UW-La Crosse's Sally Wenzel (432 - 2000-03). Karen Guckenburg (504 - 2000-03) of UW-Stevens Point is sixth on the list. Ronessa Stampfli (2005-08) of UW-Oshkosh has a firm grip on the WIAC career record with 1019 strikeouts. Workman also moved onto the WIAC list for most innings pitched. Workman is tied for 15th overall with 540.0 innings pitched. Workman needs three wins to tie Lien and Carolyn Bare for the most UW-Stout wins by a pitcher. Lien and Bare (1995-98) both have 53 wins. Workman has three wins this season to move her total to 50 career wins.


UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS: The Tommies went 9-0 in their trip to Florida last week, posting three shutouts. Last season, the Tommie program had a five-year MIAC regular-season title streak end, plus an 11-year conference playoff championship string halted, but still managed 35 wins and advance to the NCAA playoffs. The Toms return 10 players with starting experience, including All-Region P-Utility Katie Jo Delisle, All-Region SS Megan DuPuis, catcher Micaela Trainor and 2014 All-America DH Brenna Walek who didn't compete in 2015. Walek hit 17 home runs and drove in 55 runs as a freshman in 2014. The Tommies are receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25 poll. | 2016 Statistics

TOMMIES LAST TIME OUT: The Tommies will open MIAC play by hosting St. Olaf College the day before hosting UW-Stout. The weather has played havoc with the schedule to open the northern spring schedule. The Tommies moved their home game to Plymouth, Minn., where they will host the Oles in the Plymouth Dome with a 6:30 p.m. doubleheader start.  | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: Tori Workman drove in two runs in the third inning on a double to left field and soon scored on a throwing error by the Tommies, giving Stout a 3-0 lead. Stout held the No. 13 ranked Tommies scoreless until a walk off in the final inning led St. Thomas to a 4-3 victory. Tori Workman recorded nine strikeouts in the loss. The teams met March 16, 2015, in Clermont, Fla. | Game Story and Statistics



ST. OLAF COLLEGE: Jessica Bentley is hitting .441 (15-34) with a team-high 12 RBI. Emily Carr is hitting .387 (12-31) and Stephanie Bornda is hitting .348 (8-23). Alex Lopez and Chandler Beaupre have handled the majority of pitching duties. Lopez has thrown 29.2 inning and has recorded 19 strikeouts, while Beaupre has tossed 26.2 innings with 16 strikeouts. | 2016 Statistics

OLES LAST TIME OUT: The Oles went 5-4 in a swing through Florida this last week, picking up wins over Wooster (3-2), Manchester (4-1), Mount St. Mary (4-3)  and Mount St. Vincent (13-2, 8-2).   | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils swept the Oles, 3-1, 10-0, at the Irish Dome in Rosemount, Minn., March 27, 2015. Tori Workman struck out 10 and Abbey Ball pitched an inning to earn her first collegiate save in the opener.  Ball started the second game and notched the win. Tori Workman had four RBI in the second game and sister Taylor Workman had three RBI for Stout's offensive fire power. Both Workman sisters had a home run. | Game Story and Statistics


UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN: Northwestern went 4-6 in Clermont, Fla., and ran a three game winning streak, downing Coast Guard, 12-11, Emerson, 9-4, and Waynesburg, 4-2. Northwestern opened the season in Rochester, Minn., Dome at RCTC. Mindy Forcier (.383), Ellen Larkin (.349) and Megan Threlkeld (.305) lead the way at the plate. Larkin and Threlkeld, along with Ann Lokke, each have nine RBI. In the circle, the Eagles have gone primarily with Lauren Silbernick and Meghan Schroeder. Silbernick has an ERA of 4.02 in 55.1 innings pitched and has recorded 12 strikeouts. Schroeder has tossed 37.0 innings and has an ERA of 4.16.   | 2016 Statistics

EAGLES LAST TIME OUT:  The Eagles will host Macalester College (March 30) and Augsburg College (March 31) before hosting Stout. | Game Story and Statistics

LAST TIME THEY MET: The Blue Devils hosted the Eagles, April 10, 2014, and took convincing 12-1, 13-2, wins.  | Game Story and Statistics





BLUE DEVILS LAST SEASON: The Blue Devils were 16-27 overall and 7-9 in league play. The Blue Devils advanced to the WIAC tournament and knocked off second seeded UW-Whitewater in the first game of the tournament. | 2015 Statistics

AWARDS AND HONORS: Tori Workman was the WIAC pitcher of the week after allowing no earned runs in a loss to St. Benedict to open the season and after seeing action in the circle in seven of UW-Stout's final 10 games at the Fastpitch Dreams Softball Classic in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. She started four games in South Carolin, finishing with an ERA of 1.28 and a record of 3-2....Tori Workman was a first team all-WIAC selection in 2015.

2016 TEAM LEADERS: The designated team leaders for the 2016 season are Tori Workman, Nicole Rogers and McKayla Brunner.

COACHES: Blue Devil coach Becky Iaccino (26-24) is in her first year as the head coach of the Blue Devils. Iaccino played professionally in Italy played professionally in Italy from 2003 to 2011 and with the Italian National team from 2005-07. She has been the head coach at Marian University where she was selected as conference coach of the year, and has eight years of experience as an assistant coach at Division I and III programs, most recently at Concordia University Chicago. St. Olaf College: Ruthie Neuger enters her 13th season as a coach at St. Olaf and her ninth as head coach. Neuger helped the Oles double their win total from 2003-04 in her first season as head coach and matched that again in 2005-06. Neuger was named the 2010 MIAC coach of the year after guiding St. Olaf to its first ever MIAC playoff appearance. Neuger was a three-sport standout, in volleyball, basketball, and softball, at St. Olaf. She was inducted to the St. Olaf Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.. University of Northwestern: Alicia du'Monceaux leads the University of Northwestern fastpitch softball program as head coach for the ninth season in 2016. Coach du'Monceaux (pronunounced Du-Mon-So) played shortstop and pitcher for the Eagles for three years before making the tranisition to coaching in 2005. After four years of focusing primarily on the team's pitching as an assistant coach, du'Monceaux was named the head coach prior to the 2009 campaign.  University of St. Thomas: John Tschida is regarded among the elite coaches in college softball. He begins his 16th season as head coach of the Tommies in the 2015-16 academic year. In 2004 he became the first softball coach to win NCAA championships at two different schools. He reached 800 career victories in 2015, and is on pace to coach his 1000th college softball game in 2016. He's been named NFCA Division III National Coach of the Year twice, and was named Region Coaching staff of the Year in 2014.

ON DECK: The Blue Devils will open conference play by traveling to UW-Whitewater, Saturday, April 9, and to UW-Oshkosh, Sunday, April 10.